The worn, varnished seat looked clean.
She rubbed a hand across it. Her hand looked pink, unsoiled. With a sinky feeling, she boosted herself onto the stool. The wood was slick under her wet rump.
While others climbed onto stools and Cora went around one side, Abilene looked at the polished granite floor in front of her. No leaves, no debris of any kind, no dirt or moss or mold. The walkway beside the pool also looked spotless. She remembered that, striding along it, she’d felt no grit under her feet.
‘This place should not be so clean,’ she said.
‘It’s that maid service,’ Finley said.
‘I mean it. This is serious.’
‘The maid was here all right,’ Cora said. ‘And she left her mop and bucket.’
Abilene twisted her squawking stool around. Cora, behind the bar, raised a mop. Its thick, gray strands swayed from side to side.
Abilene leaned forward. One elbow on the bar top, she reached for the mophead. She fingered its strands. They were damp.
She met Cora’s eyes.
Cora looked worried. ‘The bucket’s empty,’ she said. ‘But it’s still wet inside.’
‘It’s humid in here,’ Finley pointed out. ‘Things probably never get dry.’
‘Christ,’ Vivian muttered.
‘Hey, come on, guys,’ Finley said. ‘Don’t get your balls in an uproar. We know somebody cleans the place. We’ll just have to remember to leave a tip before we leave.’
‘The upstairs wasn’t like this,’ Abilene told her. ‘It was clean, but this is spotless. Someone really…’
‘And there he is,’ Cora said. From the tone of her voice, the look on her face, she wasn’t joking.
Abilene swung her stool around in time to glimpse the head and bare shoulders of someone in the pool’s archway. Shaggy dark hair, wide eyes, a young and startled face. In the next instant, the stranger vanished, lunging for the outside pool.
CHAPTER SIX
‘Oh my God!’ Helen gasped.
‘Shit!’ Vivian blurted.
‘Let’s get him!’ Cora snapped, scrambling over the bar top.
‘Are you nuts? We’re nakedl ’
Abilene was already dashing for the pool, her feet smacking the granite floor.
‘Wait for me, Wild Bill!’
She dived. In midair, she heard Vivian yell, ‘Don’t go out there!’
She hit the hot water. It smacked the front of her body, stinging. Then it engulfed her. As she darted along beneath the surface, she wondered what the hell she was doing. Did she hope to catch the intruder? Not hardly.
She came up for air, heard others splashing behind her, saw the archway straight ahead. She swam through it and got to her feet. In spite of the porch’s shade, the brightness hurt her eyes. Squinting, she spotted the kid.
A lean, tanned teenager in cut-off jeans, shirtless and barefoot, dashing straight across the overgrown rear lawn.
Finley and Cora came up beside Abilene. They were panting for air.
‘I’m not going after him,’ Abilene said.
‘We’d never… catch him anyway.’
‘And what would we do with him if we did?’
‘I could think of something,’ Finley gasped.
‘I thought you’d sworn off guys.’
‘Is it a he?’ Cora asked.
‘I think so,’ Abilene said. ‘Not sure.’ As she spoke, she saw the stranger rush into the forest at the far end of the grounds and disappear.
‘What’d he wanta run away for?’ Finley said.
‘We probably scared the crap out of him.’
‘I wonder how long he was there.’
‘God only knows,’ Abilene muttered.
‘Long enough to enjoy the view,’ Cora said. ‘Vivian’s probably thrilled to death.’
‘She’ll want to leave,’ Abilene said.
‘We’d better get back inside.’ Cora turned around, slipped forward into the water, and swam through the archway. Abilene went next, followed by Finley.
Stroking her way across the inside pool, Abilene saw Vivian and Helen straight ahead. They had abandoned the bar area and returned to the place where they’d left their clothes. Vivian, already in her panties, shot her arms through the shoulder straps of her bra and pulled the flimsy red cups over her breasts and fastened the hooks. Helen was zipping the fly of her Bermuda shorts. ‘Did you see him?’ Vivian asked.
‘Yeah,’ Cora said, climbing out. ‘He took off into the woods.’
‘Was he alone?’
‘Yeah.’
‘With any luck,’ Finley said, ‘he’s running home to fetch his older brothers.’
‘God, this is awful! We’ve gotta get out of here.’
‘Relax,’ Cora said. ‘I told you, he’s gone. Besides, he’s just a kid. He couldn’t have been much older than sixteen, seventeen. What’s he gonna do? There’re five of us.’
‘He got a free show, that’s all,’ Finley said. ‘It’s no big deal.’
‘At least he didn’t videotape us,’ Abilene said.
She and Finley climbed from the pool.
‘Maybe he’s the one who cleans the place,’ Helen said, buttoning her blouse.
‘Probably is,’ Cora agreed. ‘And that’d mean we can stop worrying about the damn “maid service.” I honestly don’t see him as any threat.’
‘Except he really might come back with someone,’ Vivian said. ‘If he is the one who cleans this place, he must live nearby. And if he’s as young as you think, I bet he doesn’t live alone. What if he tells his parents about us?’
‘I’ve got brothers,’ Finley said. ‘At that kid’s age, not one of them would’ve told Mom or Dad about spying on some naked gals. No way.’
‘What would they do?’ Helen asked.
‘Depends. Joe’s the kind of guy who’d keep it to himself and just enjoy the memories. Ray, though - he’s more aggressive. He might sneak back, hoping for seconds. He might even bring along some friends. It’d be a big, exciting thing for them, but they wouldn’t do anything. Just try to see us again.’
‘We don’t know anything about this kid,’ Vivian said. ‘There’s no telling what he might do.’
‘The way he ran,’ Abilene said, ‘I don’t think he’ll be back.’
Cora nodded. ‘Let’s just go on about our business. We’ve still gotta check out the rest of the lodge, and it’s almost time for Happy Hour.’
‘How do you know?’ Abilene asked. None of them wore wristwatches.
‘My thirst tells me.’
***
